Ever since the Test series loss to India at home earlier this year, head coach Justin Langer is facing criticism from all quarters.
In fact, reports have also emerged that all is not well between the Australian cricketers and coach. It was said that Langer’s intense “micro-management” coaching style is not liked by a lot of players.
Langer's tenure has come under the scanner, especially following Australia's forgettable tours of West Indies and Bangladesh, where they lost the five-match T20I series 4-1.
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Amid the scrutiny, batting legend Ricky Ponting has said that it was expected with results not going Australia’s way.
“As I made really clear to Justin, when you’re in that position in Australian sport, whether you’re a high-profile coach or a captain of a national team, if you’re not getting the results, then you’ve got to expect the negativity,” Ponting told 2GB Radio while promoting his wine label for Father’s Day.
“If you wind the clock back not even 12 months ago, the Australian team were the number one ranked Test team and T20 team in the world, we know all the talent is there.
“The last tour to Bangladesh and the West Indies was pretty tough to judge the coaches on because I think there was eight or nine out of the starting XI for T20 and one-day cricket weren’t there.”
The reports of a rift between the players and Langer have intensified after Cricket Australia held an emergency meeting between senior executives and the players to decide on the road map ahead of the T20 World Cup and the Ashes.
Commenting on the meeting, Ponting said: “It sounds like the captain and some of the senior players have had some pretty direct conversation with Justin about the things they think he needs to get better at. But he is also the sort of bloke who seeks that sort of advice anyway. He wants to find out how he can get better and what he can do better.”
“I know there’s been a lot of negativity the last few weeks, I really felt for Justin, I rang Justin a few times. They just got back from that tough tour of the West Indies and then Bangladesh, and he was locked up in his hotel room in Adelaide, and he was sort of copping it left, right and centre. Me and a lot of his close friends have reached out to him.”
Meanwhile, Justin Langer has termed the emergency meeting a productive one and is optimistic of becoming a “better coach”.
“The situation at the moment is very tough but I am confident that I will become a better coach from it. We all got a lot off our chests. I think we are all in a better place now. When you win, everyone is happy and gets on with things but when you are losing, that is when the finger-pointing starts, and people look for excuses,” he recently said to a Western Australian newspaper.
